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World Cup builds new media following, but TV remains the choice for most
World Cup 2006 - 20 July, 2006
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FIFA has been trumpeting its digital World Cup with record numbers of viewers watching matches on new media platforms, but according to research many people believe TV still is the way to watch.
This summer's tournament, billed as the first mobile World Cup, had millions of football fans watching their teams via mobile phones, online or through interactive TV.
Mobile operator 3 recorded more than 3.6 million viewings of its World Cup programming, pushing mobile TV usage to an all-time high.
The operator's match highlights channel proved the most popular, with 60,000 people tuning in daily.
During the 2002 World Cup, the BBC website managed 191 million page impressions, which shot up to 399 million this year.
The total number of requests to view online streaming video live — a format making its World Cup debut — reached 5.72 million across the tournament.
And a total of 5.3 million digital satellite users opeted to access interactive services. The official FIFA World Cup site, run in partnership with Yahoo!, had more than 138 million video streams during the competition. It was the first time video highlights of World Cup matches have been provided free on the Internet. A total of 3.5 million users viewed pictures posted by fans on Yahoo!'s photo-sharing site Flickr.
However, despite the use of new media, a survey by media agency Starcom found that content often fell short of consumers' expectations of quality and reliability.
"Despite the success of new media viewing, the first choice for fans is to watch matches [on TV] live at home or in the pub," said Jeremy Pounder, the consumer insight manager at Starcom. "Significantly, people are using new media to supplement, not replace, their normal TV viewing habits - when they can't get to a TV or are at work, for example."
Starcom's research, which involved interviews with 1,000 consumers, found that the novelty of being able to watch matches online or on mobile phones was no longer enough; the demand was for speed, reliability and high quality.
Only 25 percent of those surveyed regarded viewing by mobile as a positive experience compared with 44 percent for watching on the Internet and 63 percent for interactive TV. Screen size, download speed, picture and sound quality were considered to be the main drawbacks.
This compared with 75 percent of viewers who rated watching at home as a positive experience and 68 percent who enjoyed watching matches live at the pub.
Seventy-eight per cent of those surveyed felt that digital viewing had no negative effect on their conventional TV viewing of games.
Overall in the United Kingdom, Nielsen/NetRatings research found BBC Sport was the most popular sports website during the World Cup, notching up more than three times as many visitors as its nearest rival, the official FIFA site.
This summer's tournament, billed as the first mobile World Cup, had millions of football fans watching their teams via mobile phones, online or through interactive TV.
Mobile operator 3 recorded more than 3.6 million viewings of its World Cup programming, pushing mobile TV usage to an all-time high.
The operator's match highlights channel proved the most popular, with 60,000 people tuning in daily.
During the 2002 World Cup, the BBC website managed 191 million page impressions, which shot up to 399 million this year.
The total number of requests to view online streaming video live — a format making its World Cup debut — reached 5.72 million across the tournament.
And a total of 5.3 million digital satellite users opeted to access interactive services. The official FIFA World Cup site, run in partnership with Yahoo!, had more than 138 million video streams during the competition. It was the first time video highlights of World Cup matches have been provided free on the Internet. A total of 3.5 million users viewed pictures posted by fans on Yahoo!'s photo-sharing site Flickr.
However, despite the use of new media, a survey by media agency Starcom found that content often fell short of consumers' expectations of quality and reliability.
"Despite the success of new media viewing, the first choice for fans is to watch matches [on TV] live at home or in the pub," said Jeremy Pounder, the consumer insight manager at Starcom. "Significantly, people are using new media to supplement, not replace, their normal TV viewing habits - when they can't get to a TV or are at work, for example."
Starcom's research, which involved interviews with 1,000 consumers, found that the novelty of being able to watch matches online or on mobile phones was no longer enough; the demand was for speed, reliability and high quality.
Only 25 percent of those surveyed regarded viewing by mobile as a positive experience compared with 44 percent for watching on the Internet and 63 percent for interactive TV. Screen size, download speed, picture and sound quality were considered to be the main drawbacks.
This compared with 75 percent of viewers who rated watching at home as a positive experience and 68 percent who enjoyed watching matches live at the pub.
Seventy-eight per cent of those surveyed felt that digital viewing had no negative effect on their conventional TV viewing of games.
Overall in the United Kingdom, Nielsen/NetRatings research found BBC Sport was the most popular sports website during the World Cup, notching up more than three times as many visitors as its nearest rival, the official FIFA site.
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